jotsheet

A little over a week ago, my mom calls me and tells me the computer isn’t working. It started giving off a “burning smell” (not good), so my mom shut it off and waited for me to come home. When I arrived and turned it on, it didn’t boot, so I gave the tech support folks a call.

The half-asleep tech support dolt picks up the phone, and I explain the problem to him. He has me check the power supply, but it seems fine. Then he has me check whether the heatsink is getting hot, and it is. Now, he says, take off the heatsink and the CPU.

Huh?

That’s not really a trivial task. The damn thing is bracketed to the motherboard — it’s not one of those snap-in deals. So the conversation goes something like this:

Me: So how do I get this off? Should I use a flat-head screwdriver?
Tech Support Dolt: Yes, that’s that you have to do.
Me: Hmm. Okay. I’m putting the phone down now.
[I tinker with it. I can pry up only one side.]
Me: Uhh, I can’t get to the back side of the CPU because it’s close to the back of the computer. How do I get it out?
TSD: Just pull it out.
Me: Pull it out?
TSD: Yeah.
Me: Hmm. Okay.
[Mom holds the screwdriver while I pull up. It doesn’t come out easily. I pull harder, finally removing it, but half of the plastic seating on the motherboard breaks off.]
Me: Uhh, I got it out, but part of it broke off.
TSD: That means it was defective.

What the hell? It wasn’t defective! Your directions just caused me to ruin a perfectly good motherboard! (The CPU was probably fried anyway.)

Well, it’s their problem now. We’re sending the whole damn thing back so they can replace the mobo and CPU. In the meantime, I’ve set up my old laptop and connected the monitor, keyboard, and USB mouse, so it basically functions like the desktop anyway. Quite a nice substitute, I must say.

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